Yeah, Yeah so updates. Sorry guys, it's hard to find time to work on my story. I'm not gonna make excuses, but I will give you my sincerest apologies and a new chapter :)

Anyway hope you enjoy. This is a relatively short but action packed chapter, so please review if you liked it.

A Dagger in the Darkness

Harry was looking down on the field. His skin was plastered with mud, making seem almost invisible in night's darkness.

From his vantage point up on the cliffs, Harry could see Brom and Eragon tied together sitting upright with an urgal guarding them. They seemed to be whispering to each other, but whenever the guard noticed he would bash them across the face with the hilt of his battle-axe. Harry couldn't see their faces clearly enough to know for sure, but he guessed their faces were already badly bruised.

In the middle of the field the urgals had lit a large bonfire that rose 15 feet into the air. Harry knew he could use this to his advantage. The light would make the urgals night blind. Harry had covered his left eye with a bit of fabric to act as an eye patch. This would keep his covered eye from getting night blind, so when he escaped into the forest after retrieving Eragon and Brom, he would be able to see clear as day.

Urgals were entering and exiting the camp regularly, bringing dead goats and stags and throwing them into a great pile. The Nar sat on his throne not far from the pile, watching the bonfire and the urgals dancing around it. His throne was not really a throne, only log that had been rolled into the field for him to sit on, but Harry thought of it as a throne. Any urgals that weren't dancing around the bonfire, hunting or guarding the perimeter of the camp were skinning and cooking the goats the hunters had brought back.

Okay, Harry said I think I've got it all figured out.

Harry slipped back into the trees and crept through the dark forest, keeping the field on his left shoulder as he made his way down the hill adjacent to the cliff top so that he could get down to the field.

Remember; wait for me to give you the signal. I have to be ready.

I'm not stupid Arasei said I know what I have to do.

Arasei was in a bad mood. She had wanted to go charging in to kill all the urgals with brute force. The more we wait, the more likely we'll die she had said. To this Harry had retorted back, the more we plan the more likely we'll survive.

Arasei had relented when he had told her his plans, but she was still agitated. Saphira was even worse. Harry couldn't talk to her, but Arasei could and she said that the only reason Saphira hadn't already charged in was because Eragon had told her the same thing Harry had told Arasei.

The key was stealth. The fewer urgals he had to deal with, the quicker he could pull this… operation off.

Harry had already made the necessary precautions to ensure he was as camouflaged as possible. He had his hooded cloak on and his bare skin was caked in mud from a mountain stream. He looked near invisible in the forest, but in the open field where the light of the bon fire blared he'd be like a shadow on a summers day.

Harry was nearing the tree line when an urgal hunter came suddenly out of the darkness carrying the carcass of a dead mountain goat over his back. Harry hit the deck immediately and lay flat on his stomach, lying as still as possible in the under growth as the urgal passed by. Harry held his breath as the urgal passed his hiding place, no more than a metre away. But the urgal didn't even glance in his direction and as he entered the field Harry exhaled slowly.

'Good to know my camouflage is working' he thought dryly, and continued on.

Harry crawled the rest of the way to the field and pulled himself to a low crouch behind a tree when he got there. There where several urgals patrolling the perimeter at each end of the field. They where spread evenly along the tree line, each with an assortment of battle-axes, swords and spears. Their trollish faces looked even more sinister in the half-light. Their squashed noses, brutish teeth and twisted horns seemed even more distorted and grotesque.

Harry backed back into the forest some 5 metres and crept toward the urgal furthest from his position. This guard was standing close to the cliff, leaning heavily on his spear. He appeared bored out of his mind and seemed like the most stupid of the three.

The urgal was a metre or so away from the tree line. Drawing close Harry picked up a stone and promptly scaled a tree. Harry looked back at the urgal once more before pegging the tone down at the ground, right below his position.

The urgal glanced lazily into the trees, trying to see what had made the noise. With an audible grunt that Harry supposed was a sigh it hefted his spear and trudged into the forest.

The urgal came to a stop beneath Harry's tree and leaned down to peer at the rock, which Harry had thrown.

Harry gave a small smile, 'perfect' he thought and unsheathed his dagger.

The sound of steel rubbing against the leather sheath resonated ominously in the dense darkness.

The urgal didn't have time to look up.

Harry dropped into the urgals back and in a heartbeat, stabbed the beast through the back of the head. The urgal crumpled to the ground and Harry stepped over its corpse and sheathed his dagger.

Harry continued to the field. When he reached the tree line he lay down flat on the damp soil. Harry peered down at the other guards. They either hadn't noticed the missing urgal or the urgal hadn't been gone long enough for his absence be unusual.

Harry pulled his hood further over his face and commando crawled through the grass.

Harry heard a grunt and with a jolt of fear looked above him. There was an urgal guard patrolling near him. The urgal was wandering around Harry's hiding place and was peering into the grass with suspicious eyes.

Had he seen Harry? Had he heard the drag of his cloak on the dirt or seen the disturbance in the grass?

Harry focused on his magic and made his movements silent. The urgal turned slightly and Harry rose from the grass and slit the beast's throat and in less than a second was back in the cover of the grass.

Harry used his magic the lower the urgal's body to the ground so as not to make a sound and after taking a quick glance around to make sure no one had seen, he continued on.

When Harry was 5 feet away from the two he thought to Arasei, Alight, I'm ready.

At that moment Arasei gave the signal to Saphira and Sphira to Eragon.

Eragon visibly nodded once and started talking nonsense words and wriggling in the ropes bound him. The urgal guarding Eragon and Brom looked away from his surroundings and focused on Eragon. The urgal smashed him across the face with the butt of his battleaxe and grunted loudly at him. Brom also took up the charade and the urgal, frustrated, put down his axe and started tying gags to shut Eragon and Brom up.

Harry smirked, his plan had been so simple yet so effective.

As the urgal was leaning down to fasten a gag around Brom's mouth Harry stood swiftly and stabbed the urgal in the left side of his back, right where the heart should be. Harry heard the urgal's dying breath and twisted his blade viciously before pulling his dagger out and lowering the copse into the grass.

Harry crouched back down and wiped his blade on his cloak.

Eragon and Brom's faces were swollen and bloody, but not nearly as bad as Harry had thought. Eragon was grinning ecstatically but Brom was surveying the scene around them to make sure no one had noticed.

Harry swiftly cut the ropes binding the others and put a finger to his lips. Harry pointed down and used two fingers to point in the direction he had come. Eragon and Brom nodded in understanding and lay flat on the ground and the three crawled to the tree line, retracing Harry's path.

They reached the cover of the trees without a hitch. Eragon and Brom continued on without so much as glancing back at the field but Harry lingered for a moment.

Pulling his bow from across his back Harry notched an Arrow. Harry pulled the sting as far as it would go and aimed. Taking a deep breath Harry loosened his arrow and heard with a satisfying clunk from across the field as his arrow his the target. They arrow had gone straight through one of the Nar's eyes and into it's brain, killing it almost instantly.

The kill had been done so swiftly and silently that the urgals hadn't noticed their leader was dead.

Harry grinned, it would be at least a day before the urgals had a new leader, they wouldn't pursue them until they did and by that time he intended to be long gone.

Harry turned and raced after Eragon and Brom and in the blink of an eye he was gone. No more than a shadow in the night.

Phew! This was an intense chapter. Harry once again owning everything and just generally being awesome. This is the last bit of action we'll see for a while I'm sorry :( but never fear my dear friend, because more is sure to come in time!

Anyway please review, hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for more!

Death's Alien